1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a simultaneous localization and map building (SLAM) method and medium for a moving robot, and, more particularly, to a SLAM method for a moving robot, which is capable of achieving a SLAM using an omni-directional image.
2. Description of the Related Art
An omni-directional camera is known as a camera capable of obtaining a 360° image around the camera. Recently, a SLAM technique for a mobile robot has been proposed. In the SLAM technique, an omni-directional camera is mounted to the mobile robot, to photograph an omni-directional image during a movement of the mobile robot. Using the omni-directional image, a SLAM is achieved.
This technique is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-160463. In the disclosed technique, an omni-directional vision sensor having an omni-directional field of view is mounted to a mobile body, to obtain images around the mobile body in the form of time-series standard patterns while moving the mobile body along specific paths. The time-series standard pattern images are compared with an image obtained by the omni-directional vision sensor when the mobile body moves an arbitrary path. When the latter image is identical to one of the standard pattern images, a position associated with the identical standard pattern image is recognized through detection for the mobile body.
However, the above-mentioned conventional SLAM method has problems in that a plurality of reference images, which have standard patterns, must be prepared in advance, because a desired localization is carried out based on such reference images.
Furthermore, the conventional SLAM method requires the comparison of the obtained omni-directional image with all reference images. For this reason, the calculation task increases, so that the time taken to achieve a desired SLAM for the mobile body is lengthy.